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mikeszekely

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  1. mikeszekely
    I've been posting reviews for upgrade kits here, on the logic that they are unlicensed kits made by various 3Ps. I was thinking today, though, that a lot of collectors into unlicensed 3P figures may not be interested in upgrade kits for official figures because they're not into the mainline stuff. Likewise, I know there are people who are into mainline figures and don't mind getting unlicensed upgrades, but are vehemently against 3P figures. So what do you guys think/prefer? Should upgrade reviews stay here, because they're unofficial, or should they go in the official thread because they're for official figures and not really relevant to 3P collectors?
  2. mikeszekely
    Sweet. It's not my favorite of the Gundam Battle series, but it's good enough that I dug my Vita out to play it the other day. Hopefully we get more Artdink remasters on Steam, like Macross 30.
  3. mikeszekely
    Ugh, I should have waited. It's definitely worth that price.
  4. mikeszekely
    Not for long! But I guess, since the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch 2 are all backward compatible and the Lunar games aren't exactly pushing the hardware it makes sense to make them for the older consoles and maximize your audience.
  5. mikeszekely
    I guess good news for console gamers who collect those physical releases, but as a PC gamer I can't remember the last time I didn't just buy a digital game on Steam (my plan for Lunar).
  6. mikeszekely
    While I'm sitting here eagerly anticipating Constructicons, Aerialbots, and an awesome new Star Convoy, Hasbro went and sent me the latest Collaborative... Star Wars X Transformers The Mandalorian. Years ago Star Wars Transformers weren't merely a one-off collaborative, but a regular thing that I had basically no interest in. I mean, I like Star Wars, but I don't love it the way a lot of people do. And an Eta-2 Actis that turns into a robot version of Obi-Wan is kind of weird, really. But as a Mandalorian the concept kind of works for me... a Cybertronian explorer gets lost in a wormhole or something, ends up in the Star Wars galaxy, and becomes a Mandalorian foundling. That said, the silver color with the brown "pants" and belt, the brown finger with the blue triangles on the hand armor... it's pretty clear that this isn't a Mandalorian, it's supposed to be Din Djarin, The Mandalorian. So I guess we are back to the weird "turn the vehicle into the guy that drives it" Star Wars thing again? I suppose I can ignore the intention and go back to thinking of him as a Cybertronian Mandalorian foundling, but then I can't help wishing for more unique styling. All that said, I can't really do the whole, "here's how it's accurate, here's how it's not" bit because as a Transformer it's an original character, and as Din Djarin it has to be a transforming robot now. I'll just point out that the lower legs are a tad hollow, and he's got some kibble wings that I don't really mind too much but for the hinged half-circles. Size-wise he's roughly a Voyager or short Leader. He comes with a lot of accessories, though some are a bit questionable. There's a stand base, a hinged translucent piece, a teeny tiny pistol, another weapon that's made up of a chunk of his alt mode, a capsule, a stand arm, and six rubbery effect parts. Mando's head is on a ball joint that swivels and has moderately-limited up/down/sideways tilt. His shoulders rotate, though the spikes on them and his kibble wings can be a limiting factor. They move laterally about 90 degrees, but in a move that's becoming distressingly common the hinge is on the wrong side of the rotation. His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees. His wrists swivel, as does his waist. His hips can go a little over 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally. His thighs swivel, and his knees bend around 130 degrees. Due to how he transforms his feet can tilt down 90 degrees, but nothing upward, and if I'm being generous I might say he's got 45 degrees of ankle pivot. He can hold the pistol and the lance(?) in either hand via 5mm peg handles. The pistol can store in a holster on Mando's right hip, which is another nod to Din Djarin's pistol and hip holster, except that the pistol is comically tiny in his hand. The smallest blast effect is meant to go on the tip of the pistol, while there's a peg under the pointy bit of the other weapon for the largest blast effect. Or, that's what's intended, anyway. Since they use the same connection, you can use any of the effect parts but the round ones. The hinged translucent part has a squarish peg on the gray hinge. This plugs into a port on Mando's back to give him cape... because, y'know, sometimes Din Djarin has a cape. It's shorter than Din Djarin's, and Din Djarin's is black instead of translucent blue... but I don't mind the idea of a Cybertronian Mandalorian making an Energon cape. As for his other accessories, you can plug the stand arm into the stand base, and one of the round effect parts onto it. There are tabs on the effect part that allow you to plug the pod into it. Is it supposed to be like Grogu's pram? I mean, I know what part of his alt mode it is, but for bot mode, why do I need a chunk of his alt mode flying around? The bubble canopy opens on it, but there's no Grogu to put inside. Note that there's really nothing left to do with the other three effect parts (the other round bit and the two medium blasts) in this mode. Technically, the round effect fits onto a 5mm peg on the stand arm, and the pod has a 5mm port on the bottom, so you don't even really need the one round effect that you can use. If you prefer, you can attach the pod to the back of the lance weapon. It's where it goes in alt mode, anyway. It's kind of awkward, sure, but the lance is kind of awkward period. As a bonus if you're not going to use the stand for the pod you can pull the stand arm off and attach the base to a 5mm port on either of Mando's forearms, turning it into a shield (with Din Djarin's Mudhorn emblem molded onto it). The Mandalorian's transformation is pretty simple. Spin him at the waist, open the back of his legs, spin his feet around, and fold them lower legs over the thighs and waist. Open his chest, fold the flaps on the sides out, spin the front around, and fold it over to tab into his legs. Pull his arms away from his body, fold in the fists, and tuck his head into the spot his chest vacated. Then his backpack opens and swivels around to the where his chest was, covering his head, while the half-circles on the back wings cover over his biceps. The pod plugs into the back of the cockpit, just over his feet, and the lance weapon straightens out and plugs into the back of the pod. Considering that it has to also transform into a robot, I think it's an OK representation of Din Djarin's modified N-1 starfighter. The gray color with a bit of gold striping is right. It's got molded details on the nacelles, fuselage, sometimes with gunmetal paint, where Djarin's fighter was missing hull plating. Mostly the rear pod is too big, and the front cockpit shortened to accommodate the larger rear pod, plus bits of leg showing from some angles. The two medium blast effects plug into the molded guns on the front of the N-1... though again, there's nothing stopping you from from using the other ones. The round bits slid over the exhaust spikes, but they don't slide on all way the and they look kind of dumb to me. Mando can transform with the small pistol in its holster, so that's covered. Note that while the canopy on the pod opens, the cockpit canopy does not. You might have noticed that there are tabs on the sides of the stand arm. Those tabs fit into slots on the cape. The hinge then lets you wrap the cape around the stand arm, giving you a place to store it in alt mode. Mando's N-1 mode has a 5mm port on the underside that allows it to sit on the stand arm. End of the day, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about The Mandolorian, and I think a lot of that comes down to the price and accessories. Mando's $55... basically a Leader-class price. As he's not a particularly large or complicated figure, and Hasbro already has a license to make Star Wars toys, it seems like a lot of the budget went toward accessories. Now, while a stand is nice for flying alt modes, I honestly think I'd have been happier if they ditched the stand, the cape, all the effect parts, maybe even the undersized pistol and just knocked the price down to $35. At $35 I'd say something like, "pretty good Voyager figure, the idea of a Cybertronian Mandalorian is kind of cool, I recommend him!" But Mando doesn't feel like a $55 figure at all, and a bunch of effect parts I'm not going to use don't really change that.
  7. mikeszekely
    Same. It's dumb, I like Perceptor but AFAIK the only difference is that he'll have a solid red chest door instead of translucent with red behind it, and maybe a different shade of blue. I'm guessing Ratbat won't be any different than the Siege version, aside from colors. But, just like we can't NOT have Buzzsaw, we can't NOT have Ramhorn. When I heard that Walmart was doing a Cybertron capsule Excellion would have been an obvious repaint. Maybe the gold version of Vector Prime or Starscream repaints, too. Curious to see what we get for Sideways, though... I wouldn't be the first time an entirely new mold popped up in a Walmart line. I'm told the Ironfist/Carnivac pack will be some retool of either Siege or Legacy Hound (which itself is a retool of Siege) with a repaint of Titans Return Weirdwolf. Likewise Slugslinger will be some repaint of the Titans Return one, while Sandstorm will be Legacy with a cartoon head. The Devastation pack will be a repaint of Runabout with a repaint of Ramjet or Dirge, but I dig those colors so I'm probably in.
  8. mikeszekely
    Respect. I mean, yeah, the design had potential and might have been really cool as a Voyager. But for me, the reality was just so bad. It's why one of the very first 3P toys I bought was Mania King.
  9. mikeszekely
    The Deluxe that turns into a tank? Really? I hated that one. I thought it was bad even at the time.
  10. mikeszekely
    That too. IIRC the Nemesis version was better for QC, but it's been a long time. From what I can see, there's some stuff that MMC definitely did better... Hasbro's Optimus has hollow gaps around the feet, and the train mode is so stumpy (though it's worth noting that Guidi's original design called for a trailer, which is incorporated into MMC's... maybe DNA will do an upgrade later?). Hasbro's deco is more accurate, though, and probably sturdier. As for Starscream, MMC's has more detail, but I'd say Hasbro's fits the current CHUG aesthetic a bit more. It's hard to tell, but Hasbro's alt mode looks flatter, and therefore better. Regardless, I know that comparisons are inevitable since Hasbro is doing designs MMC did years ago, but the reality is that Hasbro's gonna Hasbro, while Knight Morpher alone went for $85 back in 2010 (which would be a little over $120 in 2025 dollars) and is basically impossible to find now anyway. I prefer to simply think it's cool that Hasbro is tackling these designs at all, in what will likely be pretty reasonably priced sets (I can't tell how big they are, but I'd guess between $50 and $70 per set). EDIT: And I'm with @Radioguy, I'd love to see Shockwave if Hasbro continues the line, and maybe Scourge with his blimp mode. Soundwave had a pretty cool design, too, and all three Insecticons become one train. If they do more Autobot's, I think it'd be cool if they did guys like Hound and Ratchet who turned into train cars, not locomotives, and could be connected to one of the Autobots that does turn into a locomotive.
  11. mikeszekely
    Got these guys recently- Missing Link Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. Unlike Prime, the only G1 version I have is the Walmart Bumblebee reissue from a few years back, so it's kind of interesting that with the black bumper on his toes, unpainted headlights, and original toy-style head that Missing Link Bumblebee is actually closer to G1 than the reissue. That said, there's going to be some differences, especially given the sheer number of variant releases these two saw during their G1 run. The most obvious things that stand out to me, though, are the number of visible pins where hinges were added and the mushroom swivels on their head flaps. That's not the only change, though. Unlike the G1 toys, the Missing Link versions come with weapons. They're vac-chromed to better match other G1 accessories. Bee gets a tiny pistol (top). Cliffjumper gets a slightly larger pistol, as well as his now-mandatory bazooka. Of course the biggest change, just like with Prime, is that these guys have far greater articulation than the actual G1 toys. Their heads can now swivel. They can look down a bit (so could the originals), but not too much as it's a transformation mechanism that will stuff their faces into their chests. Their shoulders still swivel, but they can also move about 45 degrees laterally. Their biceps swivel now, and their elbows bend 90 degrees. No waist or wrist swivels. Their hips can go 90 degrees forward, but only a little bit backward and (if I'm being generous) only 45 degrees laterally. Their thighs swivel, and their knees bend 90 degrees. They have some slight up/down foot tilt, and 45 degrees of ankle pivot. All-in-all, much more articulation than the G1 toys but not as extensively so as Prime, and well below modern standards still. The pegs that make up their guns' handles fit into small holes on their fists. They also fit into a hole on their backs, for a sort of (awkward) bot mode storage. Like Prime, transformation is pretty much the same as the G1 toy, but with a few added steps. The heads still fold down, the feet still bend down and tab together, and the legs still collapse. When you get to the arms, though, they don't simply collapse into the torso. You have to make sure the elbows are straight and the biceps turned so that the wheels are lined up, then you use double hinges to shift the shoulders down and in. Pegs on the inside of the front wheel wells fit into the fists to lock the arms in place. Aside from the still-visible mushroom hinge on the head flaps their alt modes pass a bit more easily for the G1 toys. They even have rubber tires like the G1 toys. Happily, they both have storage for their pistols in car mode. On the inside of their left feet you find a small peg hole. There are corresponding pegs on the sides of the pistols, and they'll tuck neatly into the side of the foot with room for the other foot to close over it. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any storage for Cliffjumper's bazooka, though. I've been messing with these guys for a few days and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about them. On the one hand, they definitely fulfil the Missing Link assignment- they're G1-accurate cars with largely G1-accurate robot modes, just with more articulation (and new weapons). But Prime had a few things going for him that these guys don't; he's one of the most iconic toys ever, Takara managed to get a lot more articulation out of him, and he came with all the accessories the original did, so he seemed like a decent value. With Bee and Cliff it feels like Takara worked in some very basic articulation, gave them guns they never had, and suddenly they're $40 each. I know Hasbro has to import these from Takara, and I know that collector stuff is just more expensive in Japan, but I'm having a hard time accepting that these guys are twice the price of their Studio Series Deluxe versions with half the size and half the articulation, just because they're designed to be super similar to ((very cheap at the time) G1 toys. As a one-off for the novelty you should buy Prime instead. I'd suggest passing on these guys, unless you've already decided that you're going all-in on this line.
  12. mikeszekely
    Because, even 15 years ago, MMC wasn't constrained by budgets the way the bean counters at Hasbro shackle their design teams. Still... do want. EDIT: Oh, and it's not the only two-pack... Liokaiser, Hook, and Long Haul aren't the only new preorders today, BTW. Age of the Primes Voyagers Sky-Byte and Heatwave are also up. Sky-Byte looks new, Heatwave is very obviously Bulkhead.
  13. mikeszekely
    I'm probably in for Liokaiser, especially if they hit the Deathcobra stretch goal. But I'm kinda disappointed that Victory is monopolizing HasLab while also not existing outside of HasLabs.
  14. mikeszekely
    Decisions, decisions. The 2024 Zephyrus G14 is on sale right now. The 2025 model will use the same 120hz 3K OLED display, (mostly) the same chassis, same 1TB SSD. Both models have 32GB of RAM, though it's slightly faster on the 2025 model. The main differences are the CPU and GPU. While I'm not expecting an RTX 5070 to be a big upgrade over the RTX 4070 (especially given that the 4070 was already thermally constrained by the G14's chassis and cooling), the 5070ti is probably a more noticeable difference. On paper the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is looking like a good upgrade over the Ryzen 9 8945HS, too. But will the theoretical and on-paper upgrades be worth the extra money? With the sale price on the 2024 we're looking at a bit over $500 in savings over the unreleased 2025 model.🤔
  15. mikeszekely
    Are you buying Bonecrusher because you want Bonecrusher, or are you buying Bonecrusher because you want a Devastator that scales with other Hasbro combiners and he needs a left arm?
  16. mikeszekely
    The first season had Jazz using an icicle to hit snowballs at Starscream.
  17. mikeszekely
    The coronation was on Cybertron, and the repeated visits by humans in the first two seasons and Daniel's near-constant presence in Season 3 implies that Cybertron not only has an atmosphere, but one amenable toward human life. You guys are overthinking it. Just because they happen to look like bugles, assume that they are in fact some sort of Cybertronian instrument that interfaces with and works differently than an Earth bugle. Problem solved.
  18. mikeszekely
    Yes. I haven't tried Az's Clonezilla suggestion, but I've used EaseUS Partition Master to clone SSDs I've upgraded in laptops and an ROG Ally. It works basically like Az says, you use the software to clone the old drive onto the new, then expand the cloned partition to take up the extra space on the new drive.
  19. mikeszekely
    Big if true, and frankly not that surprising. As I said in my Romulus review, SS86 Prime actually scales better with the other Autobots, so it's Megatron and the Decepticons that are too short. It's a given that 86 Megs will be taller, and Hasbro was bound to continue that scale correction with new versions of Soundave, Shockwave, and the Seekers. OK, maybe Astrotrain is a bit of a surprise... I'd have guessed a new Seeker mold they could milk for repaints would come first. It's a welcome surprise, though, as I personally think that Siege Astrotrain is the worst modern triplechanger.
  20. mikeszekely
    I don't know. I didn't get a PS3 at launch, and I tended to favor the Xbox 360 more during that generation. I played Ninja Gaiden and a NG2, but on the Xbox/360. I just always assumed that the Sigma versions were the "definitive" versions since they came later. It sounds like that's semi-true for the first Ninja Gaiden (though Itagaki himself says it's Black, not Sigma), but it sounds like porting from Xbox to PS3 was easier than porting from 360 to PS3, because reading up on it makes it sounds like some stuff was added and tweaked but some stuff was straight up cut in NG2 Sigma.
  21. mikeszekely
    Neutered? Didn't the Sigma versions have more content? AFAIK the Sigma versions were what was used for the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection (which I already own on Steam, and why I'm not in a hurry to buy NG2B).
  22. mikeszekely
    I had a pair of the original Vitures, I gave them to my wife and upgraded to the Pros over the holidays. Yeah, I think it'd be good if they made the frames a few mm wider and the nose piece a bit more adjustable, but I'm quite happy with them. The screen is much brighter and the electrochromic effect better than the originals. They're not the comfiest for productivity, but the blurring at the edges isn't nearly as bad as the originals. For gaming and watching media having a big private screen beats squinting at the Ally X's built-in display. My only real complaint is that the speakers in them seem kind of weak, like worse than the original's. I guess that's what earbuds are for, but the batteries quit charging on my LinkBuds. Waiting to see if Sony's going to launch WF-1000XM6s this year. As for the RTX 5090 reviews... it's a little better than I expected, about 30%-ish improvement on average over the 4090. DLSS continues to be quite good, and Nvidia continues to dominate at Ray Tracing. Multi-Frame Gen seems better than the original Frame Gen, but still causes artifacts that are more noticeable when boosting from lower framerates, meaning it works best when you're already getting playable framerates and don't really need it. One of the reviewers I was watching mentioned that there was a big gap between the 4080 and the 4090 already, and that the 5060-5080 might have better bumps over their 40-series siblings than the 5090 did, so I'm more curious to see how those shake out. For me, I'm thinking maybe the 5070ti might be my sweet spot. With games like Indiana Jones and now Doom: The Dark Ages requiring Ray Tracing I just don't feel comfortable buying an AMD card. But I hope the 9070 family is good and affordable. Nvidia needs some kind of competition.
  23. mikeszekely
    Yeah... my RAM and (current) GPU should be ok for recommended, but my CPU is below the minimum.
  24. mikeszekely
    I think I remember tiny details like that because I swear I've seen the '86 movie more than any other human alive. I saw it during the original run, and my dad bought me the VHS as soon as it came out. I wore that tape out, literally watching it so many times I new every line of dialogue in the film. As an adult I've bought it around five times (DVD, anniversary DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K Steelbook, and digital), introduced several friends to it, made my daughter watch it at least twice, and saw it in the theater for the 35th anniversary run.
  25. mikeszekely
    Immediately after Unicron transforms and takes a swipe at Cybertron, the scene shifts to a very confused Shockwave. He yells, "Decepticons, we're under attack! Scramble!" And we never see him again. And by never, I mean never, as he doesn't appear in Season 3 or any of the Japanese G1 sequels. The original storyboards for the movie actually had Shockwave die as Unicron destroyed the Decepticon's HQ. Still, it's not like Rumble, Frenzy, or Steeljaw had much more screen time, and they all got SS86 toys.
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